Corporate result: Standard Chartered Pakistan posts Rs9.3b profit

Earnings 4.5% lesser than preceding year, BoD announces final dividend of Rs1.25 per share

KARACHI:

Standard Chartered Bank Pakistan has posted an unconsolidated profit of Rs9.3 billion in 2015, which is 4.5% less than its earnings in the preceding year.

A stock notice on Friday reported earnings per share of Standard Chartered at Rs2.4 as opposed to Rs2.5 in 2014.

The board of directors also announced a final cash dividend of 12.5% or Rs1.25 per share, which is in addition to 7.5% or Rs0.75 per share interim cash dividend announced during the year.



The net interest income of Standard Chartered (post-provisions) amounted to Rs20.7 billion in 2015, up 1.7% from a year ago. In contrast, non-interest income of the bank decreased 4% in 2015 on a year-on-year basis. It amounted to Rs7 billion, as the increase of 39.6% in the net gains on the sale of securities was largely offset by the year-on-year decrease (29.1%) in the income from dealing in foreign currencies.

On the liabilities side, the bank’s total deposits increased 7% in 2015 whereas current and savings accounts (CASA) deposits increased 8%. “The continuous increase in low-cost deposits has significantly supported the bank’s performance with current and savings accounts comprising 93% of the deposits base,” the bank said in a statement.

This has resulted in the bank having one of the lowest costs of deposits in the industry, it claimed. “On the advances side, momentum in retail assets is building up since the latter half of 2015 while the corporate and commercial segments continue with the strategy to build a profitable, efficient and sustainable advances portfolio,” it said.

With 5,000 shares changing hands on Friday, the Standard Chartered stock closed at Rs21.10 per share, down 3% from a day ago.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 5^th, 2016.

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